Fundamentals · IBM
Growth Metrics for IBM
AI-generated plain-English read of growth metrics for IBM. Updated daily.
Moderate growth, accelerating with FCF divergence
highModerate growth (7.6% YoY) but accelerating from 1.8%: the direction is the real story; a company re-entering an uptrend from moderate growth can re-rate meaningfully if the acceleration sustains.
What will probably happen
- Revenue growth is accelerating: if the trend sustains, the next reported period should show growth at or above the current rate.
- Free cash flow lagging earnings is an early warning on cash quality: if working capital or accruals are the cause, expect cash generation to weaken even if reported earnings hold steady.
- Highly erratic growth pattern: quarter-to-quarter volatility makes forecasting unreliable and reduces the quality of any single-period read.
What to do
- If you HOLD this stock
- Growth is accelerating. Maintain position and add on weakness; the trend is your friend until the first deceleration print.
- If you're EVALUATING this stock
- Erratic growth history adds forecast risk to any valuation model. Demand a larger margin of safety in the multiple before initiating.
- If you trade OPTIONS
- No sharp growth signal either way. Sell premium (covered calls or cash-secured puts) into the stable-growth backdrop rather than positioning directionally on growth alone.
13 periods of income data with recent reporting: trend reads are reliable.
Technical details
Technical analysis
- Revenue YoY growth
- 7.6%
- Revenue growth tier
- Moderate
- Trajectory
- Accelerating
- Earnings YoY growth
- 75.9%
- FCF YoY growth
- -2.6%
- Earnings quality
- Fcf Divergence
- Growth consistency (CV)
- 11.36
- Consistency tier
- Erratic
- Prior-avg revenue growth (2y)
- 1.8%
- Income periods
- 13
- Cash flow periods
- 13
- Latest data date
- 2025-12-31 00:00:00
Key levels
| Level | Value |
|---|---|
| revenue yoy | 0.076 |
| earnings yoy | 0.759 |
| fcf yoy | -0.026 |
| prior avg rev growth | 0.018 |
| cv revenue | 11.359 |
| watch growth rate | 0.076 |
Caveats
- Growth comparisons can be skewed by acquisitions, divestitures, or one-off items. Cross-check organic growth disclosures.
- Operating cash flow is lagging reported earnings. Investigate working capital, accruals, or capex policy changes.